The Toronto Maple Leafs face the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on Saturday, October 31.
Ahead of the game, one player is already facing heightened expectations and pressure. We’re talking about William Nylander, who failed to deliver in the Leafs’ previous game, a 5-4 loss to the Seattle Kraken.
Toronto was particularly frustrated by how that game unfolded. Although the team seemed capable of fighting back, it ultimately fell short, and a handful of costly mistakes left the Leafs with a bitter taste of defeat.
Among the players who faced the most criticism, alongside Sergei Bobrovsky, was Nylander.
On Friday, October 30, in Daily Faceoff’s “The Leafs Morning Take,” Nick Alberga and Zack Phillips discussed Nylander’s performance, with Phillips delivering particularly pointed criticism.
William Nylander Faces Harsh Criticism Ahead of Maple Leafs vs. Canucks
Phillips said, “Do you remember in Slap Shot, the guy who gets hit along the boards and then skates off the ice and then he says off the opening draw, you know, like, ‘I’m so drunk if I get hit I’m gonna piss myself tonight.’ That looked like how William Nylander was skating around the ice on Wednesday night.”
“He looked like he was up until 5 a.m. drinking 48 beers and then was like, ‘Oh my God, I have to play a hockey game tonight.’ He is prone to these where-did-Willie-go games, but that was a Hall of Fame Nylander sell job on Wednesday night.”
“And I know that people get mad about it and stuff, and I’m usually one that I feel like I can take the good with the bad when it comes to William Nylander and accepting the fact that there’s an off night. That was one of the most pathetic things I’ve ever seen on the ice on Wednesday.”
“And I hope he takes that to heart and understands that can’t happen again, because we spent 14 games until Wednesday talking about the leadership and how different these guys are and how every night you’re seeing him and 34 being the catalyst for backchecking and committing back to your own zone and winning battles and compete – the compete and the effort level.”
“I haven’t really been able to say that this team hasn’t shown up and tried yet, which has been a theme of years past. That was the first night where I looked at it and went, Well, there’s at least one guy who is not, and it’s unfortunately one of the big boys.”
“If you don’t have it, you don’t have it. But if you don’t give a sh-t and you don’t show up, that’s a whole different story, and that was a completely inexcusable performance from William Nylander on Wednesday.”
Maple Leafs Get Harsh William Nylander Claim Before Canucks Game: ‘Pathetic’